Dante, Hollywood actors land with a blockbuster thriller on the theft of the Divine Comedy Dante thriller – time.news

2023-11-16 21:52:13

by Valerio Cappelli

Armored set in Viterbo. Julian Schnabel’s film was born from the novel by Nick Tosches in which he pretends to be in the pay of a mafia boss who wants to verify the authenticity of the original manuscript on the poem of poems. Also in the cast are Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese. A film about the theft of the original Divine Comedy. The cast is Butler, Gadot and Pacino.

VITERBO Julian Schnabel with his very personal Dante wanders around a particularly armored set, always like this when there are Hollywood actors, led by Oscar Isaac. The wave of the Supreme Poet overflows into Alta Tuscia and the barriers keep the curious at bay. Confidentiality unleashes paparazzi of all kinds and errors. Johnny Depp not in the game (even though he had optioned the project) as was said; there are Al Pacino, John Malkovich and Jason Momoa. Martin Scorsese is not the producer but (only) the executive producer, and will have a role in the film; filming has not yet begun, but we are beyond the halfway point, in fact it will conclude before Christmas in New York and we have already filmed in Rome, Venice, Verona, Padua and Sicily, where our hero arrives. His name is Nick Tosches, like the American writer who passed away four years ago.

The film is titled like his book, The Hand of Dante, from 2001, where he is already the protagonist, in a fictionalized version of himself. He is hired by a New York mafia boss to verify the authenticity of the original manuscript of the Divine Comedy, which came into the possession of crime, and for this reason was sent to Italy, says Francesco Melzi d’Eril, who produces the film (worth 20 million euro) with Olmo Schnabel (son of the director) and Jon Kilik.

It will be a journey through time, with two time axes: the Middle Ages and 2001. How they intertwine will be discovered at the cinema. After all, a crime thriller. We ask the producer: an operation that can remind you of The Da Vinci Code? S. He defines the novel as raw and complicated. Here too it is a matter of making the numbers add up, traveling on two parallel worlds. Not to mention that Oscar Isaac plays both Dante and Nick. With Gal Gadot he has a love story; Beatrice, on the other hand, isn’t there. Not a biopic on Dante, says Melzi d’Eril. Alongside Nick, as the American boss’s henchman, is Gerald Butler: a double role for him too, at the time of Dante Pope Boniface VIII was his enemy. What happens is that Nick gets involved in a shady ring, becomes enticed and doesn’t even think about complying with the wishes of the mafioso who wants to resell the poem of poems on the black market. He will leave behind a long trail of deaths. And the Vatican when the going gets tough there. For the Italian part, costumes by Mariano Tufano made by the Tirelli and Franco Nero tailors: I am Don Lecco, the Sicilian boss who keeps Dante’s manuscript and I am killed by Nick, I also have a scene in the coffin. During the trip to Italy, a mystical knowledge triggers a descent into the Underworld of crime, coupled with the human dimension of Dante, his weaknesses and fragilities, his ideal love in spite of his wife Gemma who remained in the shadows with whom he had children. , to the betrayal of his friend Guido Cavalcanti.

Far from the celestial spheres, Nick describes him as a complex, intelligent, cultured, unscrupulous character. We will talk about the vanity of poetry, September 11th, modern publishing, the Rolling Stones… Friend of darkness, Tosches was already a film character.

Born rock critic, biographer of Jerry Lee Lewis, obsessed with Sindona and his mysteries. A life at the last stop, beyond decibels. Once he pushed a piano into the ocean: I don’t remember why I did it, it must have been terrible, the sharks must have eaten it. Before leaving he said: My saints have always come from Hell, now I no longer have one to venerate. The director considers him a kind of reincarnation of the Poet.

Schnabel also a painter. The intriguing aspect is the investigation that he continues to carry out (after Basquiat and Van Gogh) on the creative process of artists, the weaknesses of those who create something immortal.

November 16, 2023 (modified November 16, 2023 | 8:51 pm)

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